Credit

U.S. credit card holders continued to pay off their balances at historically strong rates in November, defying predictions that delinquencies would rise as the economy improves and card issuers take on more risk.

Irish-based Monex Financial Systems Ltd. is looking for American independent sales organizations interested in profiting from card transactions made here by visitors from abroad.

The alternative payments provider Dwolla has garnered much attention from its recent move to facilitate payments through Twitter, but the concept has been tried before — repeatedly, and with few success stories.

U.S. consumers have spent $33.8 billion at online merchants this holiday shopping season, representing a 13% increase over e-commerce spending during the same period last year, according to Internet usage analytics firm comScore.

First Data Corp. called 2012 the “year of universal commerce,” meaning commerce happens anywhere, anytime and on any type of device.

VeriFone Systems Inc., the largest maker of credit-card terminals, was sued by Creative Mobile Technologies LLC for more than $250 million over an agreement to place advertisements on screens in New York taxis.

Since Square launched its mobile card reader, VeriFone Systems has worked feverishly to slow its rival's runaway momentum. The news that VeriFone is changing its strategy with its Sail reader is the latest in a long line of assaults and retreats.

VeriFone Systems Inc., the largest maker of credit-card terminals, is moving away from competing directly with Square Inc. in mobile payments, according to David Talach, VeriFone’s vice president of industry engagement.

Visa Inc. attracted 50 banks and credit unions to its V.me digital wallet by offering a system that did not distance issuers from customer relationships and transaction data. But does the wallet hold the same appeal for the merchants that accept it?

Vente-Privee.com, the European online retailer that runs a U.S. site with American Express Co., said the proliferation of fashion outlets across America is challenging the company’s growth.

Twitter's immense popularity has caught the attention of many established payment companies and entrepreneurs. Several have attempted to turn the microblogging service into a payment channel, but so far there are few success stories.

As more retailers begin using quick-response (QR) codes for mobile payments at the checkout line, Bank of America is introducing the codes at the teller line.

The executive shuffle is ramping up at Visa. The payments company announced Dec. 12 that John Partridge will retire as the company’s president at the end of March.

The processor Total System Services Inc. announced multi-year agreements with two credit unions.

With more plastic in circulation than any other payment network — 2.9 billion cards, or 45 percent of the world’s total last year — UnionPay is now accepted in 135 countries. Its rise is causing friction as the firm grabs market share from Visa Inc. as well as MasterCard Inc., which UnionPay surpassed in customer spending in the first half of the year.

Home Depot Inc. and other retailers lost their bid to appeal a judge’s preliminary approval of Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc.’s proposed $7.25 billion settlement of a merchant fee price-fixing case.

MasterCard is confident that the proposed $7.25 billion settlement of allegations that it and Visa engaged in merchant fee price fixing will receive final approval, according to Nomura analysts who recent met with key executives of the card network.

Intuit's 2012 New Year resolution for its GoPayment card reader was to take it around the world. It did so in bookend fashion.

Like many New Year's resolutions, this one got off to a great start and then languished. Intuit started the year by offering its GoPayment reader in Canada. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company's next significant international expansion was last week's push into the UK market with a pilot program called Intuit Pay.

Cheap travel and social media continue to connect people all over the world. Companies focusing on e-commerce and payments gateways could see success as the world becomes more globalized by helping merchants handle payments from those who want to spend beyond their borders.

Square and Lemon, two companies that offer mobile wallets on Apple's iPhone handsets, have updated their apps to work with Apple's Passbook wallet.